In a fulfillment center environment, items may be received from one or more vendors, merchants, manufacturers or sellers in containers of any size, shape or form. Upon their arrival at a receiving station, items may be removed from their containers and placed in one or more storage vessels or facilities, e.g., bags, bins, boxes, canisters, carts, capsules, crates, envelopes, pods, pallets, trays or tubes, in which the items may remain until an order for one or more of the items is received from a customer. For example, a worker may remove an item from a container upon its arrival at a receiving station and place the item into a bin, a tote or a cart, before transporting the item to a specific region within a storage area.
Once such an order is received from a customer, the items may be transported from their respective storage vessels or facilities to a distribution station, where the items may be prepared for delivery, and shipped to the customer. For example, a worker may be instructed to travel to the specific region within the storage area where the item is located, to retrieve the item therefrom, to place the item in a bin, a tote or a cart, and to transport the item to the destination station. Alternatively, when an order has already been placed for items upon their arrival at a receiving station, the items may be transported directly from the receiving station to a distribution station, or “cross-docked,” where the items may be temporarily stored in one or more other storage vessels or facilities prior to being prepared for delivery and shipped to a customer.
Thus, during various processes by which an order for an item is fulfilled on behalf of a customer, the item may be stored in one or more vessels or facilities from a time when the item arrives at a fulfillment center until a time when the item departs from the fulfillment center to an ultimate destination. Such vessels or facilities may be of any size or shape, e.g., rectangular hollows, and formed of any type of materials, such as plastic, wood, metal, canvas or the like. Additionally, such vessels or facilities may be fixed in position, e.g., mounted to walls, floors, ceilings or other structural features, or mobile, e.g., mounted to a cart or other wheeled vehicle.
Frequently, information regarding the present or historical operations within a fulfillment center may be determined through images or other imaging data captured from one or more imaging devices (e.g., digital cameras or other like machines) posted throughout the fulfillment center. Such imaging devices may capture information regarding the general handling of items and processing of orders within and throughout the fulfillment center, as well as information regarding the specific contents of one or more storage vessels or facilities within the fulfillment center. For example, one or more digital cameras may be provided to monitor the arrival or departure of one or more shipments of items at the fulfillment center, as well as to determine the identities of the workers who handled the items, and whether or how many items remain in each of the storage vessels or facilities.